Lacson: Senate should stay out of detained senators' bids to join Sara trial

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate and the impeachment court should leave it to detained Sens. Rodante Marcoleta and Jinggoy Estrada to seek permission from the Sandiganbayan if they want to participate in Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment trial, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said.

Lacson warned that any intervention by the Senate could be perceived as pressure on the anti-graft court, which has custody over the two senators as they face separate plunder cases.

"When we held a caucus, I voiced concern that we may be putting undue pressure on the Sandiganbayan. It is better to leave it to their lawyers to argue their cases if they want to participate via Zoom or online," Lacson said in a DZBB interview.

"We'll leave it to their lawyers because if we interfere, it would be like a court going up against another court. We may give the perception that we are intervening for two of our colleagues, if they would ask the anti-graft court to release them or allow them to be escorted to the trial," he added.

Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian earlier took a similar position, saying Marcoleta and Estrada are under the jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan and must seek the court's permission if they want to attend Senate sessions or the impeachment trial.

Marcoleta has written to Gatchalian and Senate impeachment court presiding officer Francis Escudero asserting that his detention does not impair his legal capacity to vote as a senator-judge.

"There is no impairment to my legal capacity to vote as a Senator-Judge for I am not under preventive suspension," Marcoleta said in his manifestation.

Estrada, meanwhile, previously asked the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division for permission to attend Duterte's trial, but the court denied his request in July.

The court ruled that allowing Estrada to repeatedly leave detention for the months-long impeachment proceedings would undermine the restrictions of preventive detention.

Absent senators. The participation of detained senators has taken on greater significance as the impeachment court considers whether 16 votes should still be required to convict Duterte when four of the Senate's 24 members are currently unable to regularly participate in the trial.

Marcoleta and Estrada are detained, Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa remains in hiding following an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over alleged crimes against humanity, while Sen. Loren Legarda is abroad on medical leave.

Escudero ruled at the start of the trial that conviction requires the concurrence of 16 senators, or two-thirds of the full 24-member Senate.

Senator-judge Erwin Tulfo has appealed that ruling, asking the court to clarify how the constitutional requirement should apply when some senators are unable to participate.

The impeachment court has invited four former Supreme Court justices to serve as amici curiae, or friends of the court, and provide their views on the issue.

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